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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The Story Behind Blake Shelton's "Over"

As always, Blake Shelton is doing well with his current single "Over." But, the song itself was awhile in the making. Written by Paul Jenkins and David Elliot Johnson about a decade ago, the song has finally got its chance on the radio.

Jenkins says that the song was born during a traditional Nashville co-writing session, back when the writers were thinking about starting a rock band. Johnson was going to be the drummer and Jenkins the drummer, and "Over" was a song written for their new album.

Jenkins also says that the concept of the song was about losing a love or even a loved one. The idea was to create emotionally powerful lyrics, yet still leave room for interpretation as to who the song was about.

The duo recorded three songs for their intended album, including "Over," but Johnson's father passed away and he had to go back to Florida, leaving Jenkins to finish the record with another guitar-playing friend. They toured for a couple of years, taking Blake Shelton's latest hit all over the world, but never making it a hit.

"Fast forward a few more years," Jenkins says,"[and] I started writing songs for artists here in the country music scene. A good friend of mine, Jason Sellers, said, 'If you just let me put a vocal on it, we can pitch it around and get it cut.' I tweaked around the track a little bit and he put his vocal on it. He took it to one place - Blake Shelton's people - and they loved it."

Of course they loved it. It is a heart felt ballad that nearly everyone loves, just another song to make Blake Shelton's fans jealous of his wife, Miranda Lambert.

"It is amazing. . .it's like never give up on a song," explains Jenkins. "It's a personal song. It's not like we were writing this song for another artist. We were really writing it for us. It's cool to see it have a whole other life. It's awesome."